


Blonde Barnes

by chimaeracabra



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Teen Angst, Teenage Rebellion, dad bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra
Summary: Bucky's teenage daughter goes against her mother's wishes and dyes her hair in attempts to look less like Bucky.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Blonde Barnes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Rebellion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22168207) by [chimaeracabra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra). 



> Taking a break from working on my godforsaken thesis to write something that has been in my mind since my last stories. I always come back to this family. I guess it makes me smile...

Christina Barnes barely recognizes herself when her best friend Michelle’s twenty-something-year-old cousin whips her around in the spinning chair. Christina gasps. Even her dyed eyebrows cause her to think for several seconds that she’s looking at a complete stranger. But as she removes her hands from over her mouth and finds herself smiling, her BFF giggles.

“Oh my gosh, Stina! I think you make a really cute blonde!” Michelle beams, tussling her fresh, shiny, thick brown curls, which her cousin had just completed moments before finishing Christina’s new hairdo. But gradually, Christina’s smile fades a little bit. She _still_ sees Bucky’s face when she looks at her reflection. Her nose in particular. Nothing shy of surgery will stop her from looking like a very pretty and girly version of her father.

“I…I can’t believe it,” she says, maintaining a smile.

“Marcy—you’re an _artist_!” Michelle beams, jumping from her chair and hugging her cousin. Marcy laughs.

“Anything for my favorite cous.”

Christina gets lost in her reflection as Michelle chit chats with her cousin. She doesn’t even notice Michelle’s mom nudging her shoulder until the woman smiles, lowering her face to meet Christina’s, blocking her view of the mirror.

“Dear, it’s your dad,” Michelle’s mom explains with a pleasant smile. Christina stares in confusion at Michelle’s mother’s cellphone for a handful of seconds. And then she remembers that Bucky had all the same phone numbers that her mother had, especially all of her friends. He wasn’t about to not know where his daughter was at all times. Little does Bucky know, Christina has neglected to tell him about the new salon Michelle’s mother opened this week. She had also neglected to tell her parents that she was going to dye her hair and eyebrows. She figured that since Bucky had _actually_ agreed to let her spend the first July weekend of the summer sleeping over with her friend Michelle’s while Cherise is out of town on a business trip, that it was the best chance she was going to have of dying her hair without the permission of her parents.

It was really Cherise who didn’t want Christina to dye her hair. And Bucky didn’t argue with that, even though when Christina had asked him alone, he had revealed to her that he didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, so long as she didn’t dye it blue, purple, orange, some unnatural color. He just knew that Cherise valued her daughter’s natural beauty and didn’t want her altering it. The most Cherise allowed Christina to do was her eyebrows and nails. She didn’t even like for her daughter to wear too much makeup in general. Christina knew it was because her mother _loved_ how much she resembled Bucky, and always told her how beautiful she was. That when she’d been born, she was at first wishing that Christina looked more like _her_ , but she had grown to love the fact that her children resembled Bucky so much.

Christina didn’t think it fair. Her younger brother had more of Cherise’s features, but looking at him, it was still easy to tell he was Bucky’s son. Christina didn’t believe her father to be ugly, but she simply wished to look like an individual, and was tired of everyone, even complete strangers who would see the family at the store or out and about, stopping in their tracks and remarking to her that she looked just like her daddy. She’d even occasionally be asked if she was Bucky’s little sister! She couldn’t take it anymore.

“Hello?” she says, holding back tears as she continues to stare at her face, now that Michelle’s mom has moved aside. Her nose will never look unlike Bucky’s. The kindhearted woman runs a comb through Christina’s hair a handful of times, patting her new hair and grinning.

“Baby girl, how’s it going?” Bucky asks. Christina can tell that her father is smiling on the other line. This actually puts her at ease.

“S-sorry, daddy. My phone died. I was playing candy crush a lot and left my charger in Michelle’s room. We’re out of the house at the moment,” Christina explains.

“Oh, that’s okay. I just wanted to check in with you and see how you were doing. What are you girls up to?”

“Uhm…” Christina trails her fingers through her new hair and stands as Michelle’s mother removes the cover from her shoulders and dusts them off, “J-just girl things. Like, makeovers.”

“That’s nice, sweetie. Like nails and makeup?”

“Yeah, dad. Those are the kinds of things women _do_ for makeovers,” Christina explains sarcastically.

“Alright, alright, peanut.”

She blushes, hoping that neither Michelle’s mom nor cool older cousin can hear the pet names that Bucky is calling her.

“I don’t need the attitude,” he laughs, “Just making sure you’re okay. Your mother’s been trying to reach you, too. She just landed in LA and wanted to see how you’re doing.”

Christina sighs.

“Okay, dad. I’ll call her as soon as I charge my phone. I promise,” Christina explains. She knew she shouldn’t have let her phone die because her father would worry. But she thought that maybe, just _maybe_ he’d wait until before bed time to call her.

“Well, have fun, honey. Your brother and I are going to the movies.”

“Oh. Have fun, dad.”

“We will, baby. I love you.”

“Love you too, daddy.”

Christina smiles and thanks Michelle’s mother, handing the woman her cellphone.

“I’m sorry he called you,” she says, rolling her eyes, “My phone died,” she explains.

“No, sweetie! Don’t be sorry! He’s just bein’ a good dad, you lucky thing. It’s no trouble, honey,” Michelle’s mom explains, giving her arm a motherly squeeze before breezing away to greet a customer at the front desk. Michelle’s mom is _way_ more relaxed as a parent than Bucky and Cherise, and Christina finds it to be a breath of fresh air to spend time around her. It seemed to Christina that all of her friends had mothers who _really_ liked her dad. Maybe because all of her friends didn’t really have dads who were in the picture, not to mention the fact that everyone seemed to think that Bucky was hot, something that often made Christina uneasy.

“Oh my god, Stina, you look _hot_!” Michelle adds, whipping out her phone to take selfies with her. Christina laughs, pouting into the camera.

“O-M-G, Emory is going to fucking _love it_.” Christina is suddenly worried about this, but she keeps smiling at the camera. She had let Michelle think that she wanted to go blonde for her boyfriend, who also happens to be blonde. She’d said she wanted to match with him for the prom coming up next spring, and she just wanted to give blonde a try over the summer and see whether she could commit to it. Christina can’t help but feel a little displeased. The dye simply doesn’t stop her from looking like her dad, and she looks no closer to her mother with the color either. She doesn’t exactly hate the look, but she knows that when her mother sees it, she more than likely won’t be happy.

Christina is a little bit more disappointed in herself when Emory doesn’t stop staring at her as she walks to his car from Michelle’s house on Monday afternoon. His green gaze is wide in disbelief. His mouth continues to hang open as he stands there, leaning against his car as she approaches.

“…Stina,” he says barely above a whisper. Christina’s eyes water.

“N-no—it looks great!” Emory beams, but she knows he’s just trying to be nice as she dodges his hug and slumps into the passenger’s seat. He sighs and opens the back seat to put her duffle bag there.

“I mean it, Chrissy,” he adds, turning his key in the ignition, but she is already crying.

“My mom’s going to _kill_ me. I shouldn’t have done it!” she yells, turning fully to face Emory as he pulls off of Michelle’s street.

“Don’t cry, Chrissy,” he begs, cupping her wrist and kissing the back of her hand, keeping his eyes on the road as he drives.

“But even _you_ hate it!” Christina explains.

“I don’t hate it,” Emory admits, “I just wish you wouldn’t try to look more like me. I hope you know that that’s not why I like you.”

Christina blushes furiously as he pauses at a red light to look at her genuinely.

“Oh…I wasn’t doing it to look more like you…I was just trying to look less like my dad,” she says, crossing her arms and glancing out the window.

“What?” Emory asks. The boy is genuinely clueless. Christina realizes that he doesn’t know her very well just yet. He doesn’t know the somewhat tumultuous relationship that Christina has with her parents at times, her bad side, her rebelliousness. In Emory’s eyes, Christina is the ideal daughter, who occasionally tries to spread her wings and be independent of her parents.

“B…but your dad is awesome, Chrissy. And everyone who knows you knows you’re his daughter. There’s nothing wrong with you looking like him. He’s practically a hero—”

“Enough about my dad!” Christina barks, louder than she had meant to. She immediately retracts her claws, placing a hand on Emory’s knee. She sighs.

“My mom didn’t want me to dye my hair in the first place. And I’m starting to get why, I guess.”

“Well, you can always dye it brown, Stina,” Emory explains.

She bounces her knee and bites on her thumbnail. By the time Emory pulls up in front of her house, she knows that they don’t have long before Bucky gets home. So, she spends fifteen minutes making out with Emory in his car before he walks her to the front door, carrying her duffel bag and trying to reassure her that her mother won’t be that angry. Hair can always be dyed again. Emory makes sure that Christina is inside the house and that the door is locked before he drives off. She watches him leave with a sigh before texting Bucky that she’s home, not a minute later than the time she had told him she would be home.

Bucky responds that her brother Theo is hanging out at his friend’s down the street, that he will be home from work soon. She realizes that she and the dog are the only ones home for the time being. She disappears upstairs to search for the crochet hat which she had worn during winter, reasoning that all she has to do is crank up the air conditioning and throw on her hat or a hoodie to hide her hair from her parents. She had thought about this before even accomplishing the mission to dye it, but never really thought she would end up this disappointed by it. She just thought she would be happy. She found brown to be boring and admired hair colors that stood out, like her aunt Natasha’s natural flaming fire red hair and matching eyebrows. She decides she looks too stupid with a hat on, so she opts for a sweatshirt that Emory had given her, and keeps the hood over her new locks.

She sits on the couch eating a peanut butter sandwich watching Family Feud when the front door opens. She just about charges to stand and try to make it to her room before Bucky can see her, but he’s in the doorway of the living room before she knows it. He smiles at her and asks her why she’s got the air conditioning on so high, walking into the hall to turn it down. She breathes a sigh of relief that he hadn’t looked at her very intently, enough to notice her eyebrows. As she walks into the kitchen to make herself another snack, Bucky follows her, giggling.

“Is that your brother’s? I’ve never seen you wear this sweater before…”

To her dismay, he pulls her hood off, and she gasps. And Bucky gasps, dropping his keys in shock. He takes a swift step towards her, his bionic hand diving into her hair. Her father’s eyes are so wide that it scares her momentarily.

“Christina,” he breathes, running his fingers through it. She looks away from him, feeling remorseful.

“Why?” he asks, and the way that his face breaks causes her heart to sink when she looks at him. He looks her in the eyes now, and his expression is a mixture of disappointment, shock, and confusion all at once.

“W-wait…even…your _eyebrows_? Baby girl…”

His flesh hand pushes into her hair now and Christina closes her eyes, sighing.

“Please don’t tell mom,” she begs.

“Baby girl, she’s gonna see it when she gets home on Wednesday,” Bucky explains, cocking an eyebrow, “I-it’s okay, peanut,” he says, reassuringly, and she finds him smiling when she opens her eyes again, but she can just tell that he’s devastated that she did this.

“I’m _sorry_ , daddy!” she explains, throwing her hands up in what seems to Bucky like frustration.

“Oh, Stina,” he says warmly, hugging her, “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“I thought I would like it, but…I don’t know!” she explains, “Mom’s going to be _so_ mad at me.”

“Don’t cry, it’s okay,” Bucky repeats.

She wipes her eyes as Bucky leads her to a chair at the kitchen counter and hands her a napkin. He leans against the island, thinking.

“We’ll just dye it brown again before your mother comes home.”

“No, dad! I don’t want to. Michelle’s cousin _just_ graduated from cosmetology school and she did it for free. I don’t want them to think I hate it. I…I already decided it was something I wanted to do for a long time and mom _wouldn’t let me_ ,” Christina explains. Bucky frowns slightly. He has a feeling that Christina only did this to defy her mother. He was used to his daughter trying to do things these days that neither he nor Cherise wanted her to do.

“Well, it is your hair and your choice, baby girl. But I don’t want you to worry about what your mom will think.”

“I’m just ugly,” Christina explains, her voice breaking. At this, Bucky is visibly offended and heartbroken. He grabs a stool and pulls it up so that when he sits on it, he’s right in front of his daughter. His flesh hand tilts her chin upwards so that she meets his gaze. He is looking at her sternly, but his eyes are soft and full of adoration.

“Don’t you _ever_ , for one second, think that you are _ever_ anything less than the most beautiful girl in the universe,” he explains clearly, enunciating each word, “Do you understand me, Christina?”

She wipes her eyes again and nods.

“You are Christina Natasha _Barnes_ , _my_ daughter, your mother’s daughter. My precious princess. There’s nothing ugly about you…Do you hear me?”

She nods, sniffling. Bucky kisses her forehead a long moment.

“You would _still_ be beautiful even if your hair was orange, or green! Hell, even if you were totally _bald_.”

Christina laughs, but she realizes that her father is serious. He smiles anyway.

“You’re a gorgeous and smart young lady. Don’t ever let me hear you call yourself ugly again. You got that?”

“Okay, daddy.”

Christina sighs and Bucky kisses her forehead again. He walks to the counter to pull out two glasses. He pours them both a nice cold orange juice, mixed with lemonade and a little ginger ale, one of Christina’s favorite concoctions that Bucky had been making for her since she was a little girl.

“Come on, kiddo. Teddy and I watched a really funny movie the other night, and I’m willing to rent it here at home so that we can watch together,” he explains, rubbing her shoulder before she follows him. She feels better already. Bucky fluffs the pillows on the couch and she makes herself comfortable while he goes to get her some popcorn. She knows that the worst is yet to be over, because her mother still hasn’t seen her hair. But Bucky assures her that if she wants to, he will take her to another salon to dye her hair and eyebrows brown again before her mother gets home. They talk about it some more and it makes Christina laugh when Bucky ponders how shocked Cherise will be when she sees her. Bucky tells Christina to think of it as a prank; there’s no reason she can’t go back to brunette if she still doesn’t like it by the end of the week. And suddenly, Christina decides that looking like her dad, who would do _absolutely_ _anything_ to make her happy, isn’t such a bad card to have dealt after all.


End file.
